The top reported proficiency rate is 48% in Math. The lowest is 32% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Family Life Academy Charter School Iii
Family Life Academy Charter School III serves kindergarten through fifth grade in the South Bronx on Gerard Avenue. The school is small, with enrollment distributed across the six grades served. The overwhelming majority of families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is predominantly Hispanic with a substantial Black enrollment.
The school's most recent state test results show proficiency spread unevenly across grades. In fourth grade, proficiency in both math and English language arts runs substantially higher than in the other tested grades, crossing into the majority range. Third grade shows lower proficiency in both subjects, while fifth grade proficiency falls below grade four but above third in math and lands in the middle range for reading. Science proficiency in fifth grade is particularly low. Across tested grades and subjects combined, the school's overall proficiency sits in the top quartile relative to districts in Bronx County, a meaningful position given the challenged conditions across much of the borough. The participation rate in state assessments is high, indicating strong test administration compliance. Parents seeking to understand these results may want to ask the school directly about the drivers of the grade-four strength and strategies the school is using to address the lower performance tiers in third and fifth grades, and especially in science.
The school operates as a charter school within the Family Life Academy Charter Schools network. Its charter was renewed for a three-year term running through 2027, confirming that the school remains authorized to operate, though a three-year renewal is shorter than some others in the network and may be worth noting when considering long-term stability. A significant recent development is the network's expansion. FLACS opened new middle and high school facilities in 2024, creating a complete K-12 pathway within the network in the Bronx. For FLACS III families, this means children can now continue through high school within the same school community rather than transferring elsewhere after elementary school concludes. The network also received a substantial philanthropic gift, providing unrestricted resources that can support program continuity.
The Bronx economy centers on health care and public institutions, with Montefiore Medical Center as the largest employer. The borough is in active growth, with substantial new affordable housing under development across multiple neighborhoods. Housing values and rents in the school's 10451 zip code are modest by New York City standards, well below state and national medians, though both have risen modestly year over year. The area is walkable, with White Plains Road serving as a commercial spine, and transit access is dense through the subway system; the Penn Access project will add four new Metro-North stations in the coming years. The Bronx Park neighborhood hosts the New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo, and Van Cortlandt Park and other large parks offer green space and recreation. The neighborhood fabric mixes apartment buildings, commercial storefronts, and transit-oriented nodes, with civic institutions embedded within neighborhood fabrics rather than on isolated campuses.
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